DSW signs on for D.C. USA project

D.C. USA has another large retail tenant. Shoe discount store DSW has signed a lease for 23,000 square feet at the Columbia Heights, Target-anchored development.

The retailer has been rumored for the location for some time, but things are now official. The store will open near the end of 2012, according to D.C. USA broker Dave Dochter, who worked on the deal with Cushman & Wakefield Inc.’s Matt Alexander. Ryan Wilner of KLNB represented the tenant.

DSW will be located on the second floor of the development. Dochter and Alexander are still working to lease 30,000 square feet on the ground level of D.C. USA, looking at scenarios that involve one or multiple tenants. The development is hoping to snag a boutique grocer (Ellwood Thompson’s at one point was going to the property but later pulled out).

“I think DSW will be the next catalyst for retail development there,” Dochter said.